Greater Kashmir: Srinagar: Wednesday,
June 29, 2016.
State
Information Commission (SIC), a primer institutions aimed to curb corruption in
the State through its flow of information, continues to remain headless even
after the new government was formed on April 4, this year.
The delay by
authorities to initiate the process for appointment of new chairman and other
members is allowing RTI Act to die a silent death.
The former
CIC, GR Sufi, completed his term on February 29 this year while the post of one
State Information Commissioner was already vacant. As the state was under
Governor’s Rule at the time CIC retired, it was not possible to appoint new
head for procedural reasons.
Former CIC,
Sufi while speaking at seminar at Central University of Kashmir organized to
commemorate 7 years of Jammu & Kashmir RTI Act 2009 had said that
constitution of SIC was very essential for ensuring good governance.
Sufi had
earlier revealed that he spoke to Government several times to appoint
Information Commissioner after Dr S K Sharma retired from the Information
Commission last year in October. “After retirement of (CIC) G R Sufi and Dr S K
Sharma, the State Information Commission (SIC) has almost become defunct and
this is creating a big hurdle for non implementation of RTI Act. Lots of cases
are pending before Information Commission. One commissioner alone can’t do
justice with so many pending appeals and complaints. We appeal Chief Minister
Mehbooba Mufti for her immediate intervention so that these vacancies are
filled as soon as possible “said Dr Raja Muzafar Bhat, Founder of J&K RTI
Movement.
“Under the
provisions of J&K RTI Act 2009 the Information Commissioners and Chief
Information Commissioner (CIC) can only be appointed by the Governor when the
selection committee consisting of CM , Leader of Opposition , and one cabinet
Minister nominated by CM recommends the suitable candidate. The elected
government must initiative the process in interest of public and large and
appoint CIC and another Commissioner,” he added.
“It is very
sad that the elected Government could not short list the names of probable
Information Commissioners after Dr S K Sharma retired in October 2015. They had
almost 3 months until death of Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Syed to appoint
new Information Commissioner. But now we demand immediate appointment of these
posts “said Balvinder Singh Convener of Jammu based Sangharsh RTI Movement.
Presently,
the SIC has only one Commissioner.
“The delay in
appointment of new members to SIC has discouraged information seekers and
encouraged corrupt officials to deny information to applicants on one pretext
or another,” said a group of RTI activities. “The fact is that the act is dying
its silent death due to official apathy,” they added.
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